My earlier patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,691 entitled "SOILING RESISTANT BANDED EARPLUG" describes a band earplug that avoids soiling of the earplug devices, or pods that actually press against the outside of a person's ear canals. The patent describes the band outer portions as angled to extend at an upward-outward incline when the middle portion of the band rests on a horizontal surface. If a worker places the band right-side-up even on a dirty surface, the band holds the pods away from the surface so they will not be soiled. Such soiling of the pads could lead to dirtying the worker's ears, or require a new clean band earplug.
Workers often lay a band earplug on a dirty surface without taking care to make sure that the band is laid right-side-up to protect the pods from dirt. It would be desirable if a band earplug were constructed to avoid soiling of the pods, no matter what orientation the band earplug was laid onto a dirty surface.